Who Is Régis Le Bris?
Régis Le Bris is currently in his second role in senior football management at Sunderland, following an interesting two-year stint with Lorient in Ligue 1 from June 2022 to June 2024.
The 48-year-old coach has taken his next challenge in the EFL Championship to keep developing his ideas and football identity.
Although Preston eliminated them from the EFL Cup, Sunderland have been one of the big positives in English football so far this season.
They have conceded just one goal since the beginning of the Championship campaign, but they are at the top of the classification with 12 out of 12 points.
What we have seen from Régis Le Bris reflects his time at Lorient.
There are many different profiles on the pitch, obviously, but he is trying to consolidate the same principles within a similar shape and exploit the skills of his new players.
In this tactical analysis, we will provide an in-depth analysis of Régis Le Bris tactics with his new team.
Régis Le Bris Tactics & Formation
One of the details that characterised Le Bris’ Lorient was the freedom of Enzo Le Feé — his smartest and most technical player in possession.
Now, at Sunderland, Le Bris does not have a ‘rhythmist’ or a player with a similar varied range of passes.
However, he already has a physical beast in Jobe Bellingham — a tidy pivot on the axis, Dan Neil and a player who is comfortable receiving in complex positions to make oriented controls or shifting between half-spaces and external channels to dynamise the possession, Chris Rigg.
This recognisable midfield trio dictates Sunderlands game model.
In 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 and building up in 4-2 with Chris Rigg as an advanced midfielder—even with Bellingham-Rigg as ‘8s’ and the goalkeeper involved during the Sunderland build-up play, as Figure 1 shows—The Black Cats constantly look to build their attacks quickly and directly after recovery.
Centre-backs try to slowly attract the rival pressure — not restarting the game immediately.
They nee
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